The following debate originally took place upon my Facebook wall, after I posted artwork being shared by the page, “The Liberty Principle: No Consent from the Governed“…
Rayn:
“A license is what you get when the government steals your rights away from you and then sells them back.” – Mark Edge, Host of ‘Free Talk Live’
Daniel F.: So should one have an unqualified right to operate a motor vehicle despite not knowing how to operate it safely, or having shown a complete disregard for the safety of others while driving it? Should one have the “right” to endanger the safety of others, either through ignorance or complete disregard?
Now there IS way too much bureaucracy in all this – fees for renewing one’s license and registration, overzealous police patrolling the streets looking out for traffic and parking violations so they can issue summonses mainly for the purposes of bringing in revenue – while “fixing” tickets for their own friends and relatives. Meanwhile a fine that can cause significant financial hardship for a poor person will barely be of any inconvenience at all to a rich person despite both committing the same “offense”, which may or may not have any actual justifiable reason for existing at all. (Speed limits for instance – it should not be an offense simply to drive above some arbitrary preset limit; only if they are actually endangering others should there be cause for any sort of action against them.)
Rayn: LOLZ! A license is merely a highly overpriced government permission slip for the right to freely travel. It provides ZERO GUARANTEE that one actually has the ability to safely drive a car, nor that one will continue to maintain the ability to safely drive a car, and it certainly isn’t an indication that one will actually regard the safety of others when driving! You might not have noticed, but the vast majority of accidents that take place in America result from the actions and activity of “licensed” drivers! So, obviously, a “license” means almost nothing, in the scheme of “safety.”
Alternatively, plenty of individuals do have the ability to safely drive a car, while having no valid driver’s “license” to speak of. This is especially true when considering the fact that the government revokes and suspends the driver licenses of so many, year after year, as punishment for non-driver safety offenses – such as non-payment of “tickets,” non-payment of court fees, drug convictions, etc… Also, the mere act of letting a valid driver’s license “expire” (which is simply a euphemism for failure to REPAY for a license that was already adequately secured) will result in the revocation of a driver license, as well! (Interesting enough, such a situation makes a driver’s license an indirect tool of abuse against low-income individuals).
And, speaking of indirect State abuses that come with our current state of affairs, a “driver’s license” (and a “non-driver license” for that matter), are major tools of oppression in the arsenal of the police state, giving courts the ability to strip away the right to freely travel for non-driving related, victimless “crimes,” and giving cops the pretext to harass and warrantlessly search any person walking down the street. The latter especially true for individuals of color, and for the disabled – who are the most likely to be on the receiving end of such State activity.
As for your question, “should one have the ‘right’ to endanger the safety of others, either through ignorance or complete disregard,” the answer is “no.” We have a right to live, to self-ownership, and to peaceful co-existence. No one has the “right” to initiate harm against others, no matter the so-called “motivation.” But, this all has very little to do with a driver’s license, and everything to do with Individual action, ability, and responsibility.
One thing we can agree upon is the unnecessary bureaucracy involved, and the many abuses that come with it. Also, speed limits are also highly problematic, and indicative that the the rules of the road are about the State’s USUAL AGENDA: COMPLIANCE WITH AUTHORITY, and REVENUE COLLECTION – rather than “SAFETY”… (Click Here to Continue Reading This Post)
